


Extended Layover

by What_a_mess (Myself)



Category: Longmire (TV)
Genre: Cuddles, F/M, First Kisses, Fluff, Grumpiness, Mentions of other characters offscreen, Missed flights, Shared Bed, unapologetic schmoop, unnecessary wordiness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-31
Updated: 2020-12-31
Packaged: 2021-03-10 17:28:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,868
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28450911
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Myself/pseuds/What_a_mess
Summary: What should have been the end of a trip from hell takes a turn from the worst when Cady’s flight is cancelled because of weather.  Or maybe for the better?
Relationships: Cady Longmire/Jacob Nighthorse
Comments: 6
Kudos: 16
Collections: Longmire Holiday Exchange





	Extended Layover

**Author's Note:**

  * For [unkemptseeker](https://archiveofourown.org/users/unkemptseeker/gifts).



> As ever, a thousand thanks to Cminerva for the beta.

Cady stared at the airline employee at the gate desk. “Please tell me you’re fucking kidding me.” Cady sighed and waved an apologetic hand as soon as she said it. It wasn’t their fault, and from the brittle customer service smile pasted on their face it had been a trying holiday season shift already. But _fuck_ , if that wasn’t just the crap icing on the shit cake that had been this whole trip. “Sorry, I know it’s not your fault. Just, could you call ahead to Sheridan and make sure that my luggage actually made it? I don’t get how it could make it there before me, but either way, could you check to make sure it’s actually there and not in Seattle or something?”

While they were on the phone, Cady did her best to stretch out her sore neck and dug through her purse for a chapstick. When she found it and popped off the cap, it was a mashed glob that came out of the tube with the cap and she was left throwing the whole mess away and wiping the bit she got on her hands in like it was slightly greasy lotion. Perfect. And par for the course for this whole nightmare of a trip. The timing had been awful to begin with. Travelling right before the holidays was just asking for trouble, but the job offer had seemed too good to pass up. Instead, it had been too good to be true and she’d paid her own way out to Chicago for an interview that didn’t happen and everything had continued to go downhill from there.

She’d missed her flight and couldn’t afford a last minute flight from Chicago to Sheridan, but she’d been able to snag a later ticket from Denver home, so then she’d just had to get to Denver. It would take a hell of a lot longer but Amtrak was worlds cheaper, so she’d spent about 18 hours on a train making her way from Chicago to Denver to make this flight. This flight which was now cancelled because of the weather. She’d checked in and checked her baggage as soon as she got to the city, but somehow even that had come back to bite her in the ass. _Somehow_ her checked baggage had been mislabeled and put on a different flight, hopefully to Sheridan, instead of being offloaded with the rest of the passengers’ luggage when this flight was scrubbed.

The sound of the phone hanging up brought Cady back to the present and she relaxed somewhat at the smile on the employee’s face. A few minutes later she was headed downstairs towards the baggage claim to see about a room reservation through the customer service desk who would have a lodging voucher for her courtesy of the airline. She’d spent long enough trying to check on her wandering luggage at the gate that by the time she got downstairs the baggage carousel was still empty and there were only two people still in the claim area. The low murmur of voices were from the person staffing the customer service desk and the man with a briefcase talking to them.

Walking towards the desk, Cady’s steps slowed as she thought she recognized the expensive wool coat and the haircut, cropped close at the sides. But what the hell were the odds of him being out in Denver the day before Christmas Eve… At the sound of her low boot heels approaching Jacob Nighthorse glanced over his shoulder and then turned to her, surprise plain on his face. “Hey! What’re you doing here?”

 _Performing brain surgery_ , she thought snidely. The past two days of difficult travel had worn her nerves thin enough that her mood was sour and a question with such an obvious answer was obnoxious. She took a deep breath to put some distance between her kneejerk sarcastic response and actually saying something. “Trying to get home, but the flight was cancelled. Were you on the 9:05?” she asked. The realization had clearly hit him as soon as she started talking. Unless he was heading somewhere else for the holiday, he had likely had a ticket on the same flight back to Sheridan as she had before the weather had turned. As his nod, she glanced past him to the staffer behind the desk typing away with the phone wedged to their ear with a shoulder. “Is the airline putting you up in a hotel, too, until the flight tomorrow afternoon?”

He frowned, lips pursing slightly as he followed her gaze. “Hopefully; four places they’ve tried are totally booked so far. Between the holidays and the weather, even with the airline throwing their weight around nowhere has had a room yet.” Cady took another deep, calming breath. She needed this shitty, shitty trip to be over. Or even to just catch a single damn break. If her luck held the way it had been going there wouldn’t be a single room available, _or even a damn stable with a manger_ , she thought with a heavy dose of wry bitterness. The prospect of having to spend the night in the airport was enough to make her want to cry. She’d done it before, but even younger and used to pulling all-nighters it had left her sore and drained. She was already uncomfortable and cranky now without that extra trial.

“Excuse me, sir?” They both turned to focus on the staffer who was covering the mouthpiece of the phone with their hand to talk to Jacob. “I think I found the last room in Denver after the number of places I’ve called with no luck. The guy at the desk said he can’t hold it unless you book it and pay a deposit over the phone now,” they told him, eyes skipping past Jacob to Cady before darting back to him with an apologetic grimace. Jacob looked back at Cady, his eyebrows dipping as he clearly weighed a single room against there being two of them now. Cady stepped up to the desk before he could do something ridiculous like _lose the room_ and spoke before she could think better of it. “We’ll take it.”

She turned to face him at the same time that he tilted his chin up and started charily, “Cady,” before she hissed, “ _Take the damn room!_ ” He blinked in surprise at her vehemence so she pressed her point. “I spent the night in an airport in my early 20s. It was miserable and messed up my back enough that I limped for two days. I’m sure as hell not doing it again, and you’re not either. If it’s the last room, _take it_. We’ll figure it out.”

She jerked her head to where the employee was waiting with only slightly wide eyes and their hand still over the phone. Jacob shot her an unreadable look but turned back to the desk. There was a bit of logistics with the deposit versus the airline lodging voucher, but after an assurance that the deposit would be refunded once they presented the voucher in person so the room wouldn’t be wasted, they both headed out to get the last shuttle headed to the farther hotels.

While Jacob dealt with the lodging, Cady realized that she would need to let various people know that she wouldn’t be arriving that night and started making the series of necessary phone calls. She was leaving a message on the work answering machine when she trailed him out to the curb and then onto the shuttle. She ended up leaving a voicemail for each call which was about what she had expected since she’d left her car at the airport so she wouldn’t have to arrange for someone to come get her. At least this way her dad couldn’t pitch a bitch fit saying he was worried about her if he dropped by and she wasn’t home. The thought wasn’t particularly charitable, but she was beyond tired and her familiar frustration with Walt was compounded by her exhausted irritability and she couldn’t bring herself to care.

\------

They were pulling up under the hotel’s portico when she hung up for good. She was glad she’d freed up her hand because her boot hit a patch of ice at the curb and if she hadn’t been able to grab the back of Jacob’s coat sleeve she would have wiped out on the short walk to the front door. He clamped a gloved hand down on hers to firm up her grip when she wobbled and then shifted to get her elbow to help shepherd her onto steady ground. “You good?” She nodded, grateful for the help and annoyed at the ice in equal measure. “Shit, no wonder the flaps froze,” she muttered, watching their breath vapour twist in the overhead light. She let go of his coat with a grimace of a smile and made for the warmth of the lobby.

She was so done with the whole day that she tuned out the conversation as soon as Jacob started talking to the hotel night clerk. The situation wasn’t ideal—in fact the spectacular awkwardness of it was second only to the sheer ridiculousness of it—but she truly couldn’t muster the outrage or the interest or the _anything_ really, willing to just roll with it at this point. As embarrassing, uncomfortable, and inconvenient as having to share a hotel room would be, it wouldn’t be the most embarrassing, uncomfortable, or inconvenient thing about this wretched trip. If nothing else, she would be able to sleep in an actual bed which alone made it preferable to the previous night.

It could certainly be worse; she and Jacob had a good working relationship even if they occasionally butted heads when one of her cases involved the casino, and they were… cautious friends, she supposed, if they ran into each other off the clock. _And at least he was easy on the eyes._

Cady pulled herself back to the present forcefully enough that she physically jerked, her elbow sending the odd pyramid of glitter encrusted pine cones and fake holly skidding on the narrow marble countertop. Jacob and the clerk both glanced over as she set the decoration to rights but continued their discussion. She was more tired than she had thought, apparently. That was… she flushed, spending more time turning and angling the violently festive thing than was remotely necessary so that she didn’t have to look anywhere else.

The night clerk slid two keycards in little paper envelopes across the counter and she reached out to snag the one closer to her, finally turning her attention back to the pair. The clerk looked apologetic and somewhat harried. Jacob was frowning deeply but still took the keycard with a thank you. At a guess, Cady figured that another room hadn’t magically opened up and they were going to have to find a way to muddle through sharing. She hadn’t expected a holiday miracle to come through so her mood didn’t dive like Jacob’s seemed to have, just stayed vaguely dismal.

Cady was forced to pull up short to keep from walking into Jacob’s back when he stopped just inside the doorway of their room. _For fuck’s sake_. “Can you step in?” He did; a single step, but it gave her room to squeeze by him while he said flatly, “There’s only one bed.” She dropped her purse onto the closest dresser and barely glanced at the lone queen bed in the room, digging through her purse for a chapstick before remembering and giving up with a sigh.

“You can go,” she waved a vague hand towards the bathroom door, “sleep in the tub or whatever, but that’s all on you. That’s _stupid_ , but whatever lets you sleep at night.” She paused for a brief moment before huffing a short laugh out her nose, only catching the pun after she’d said it. Jacob frowned at her, the biting flippancy not what he was used to from her.

Turning back to him and seeing his expression, she frowned back at him harder. “Listen, I’m running on about 4 hours of sleep in the past 48. This entire trip has been a complete shitshow, and those 4 hours were in a train car with two six year olds, SO. I am ALL out of fucks to give.” Jacob blinked at her, but she barreled on. “ _I_ am going to sleep in this nice big bed that the damn airline is paying for, after I—” she paused to rip the bedspread violently off and throw it in a heap in the corner, “get rid of _that_.”

Jacob took a half step back at the sudden, dramatic movement and she cut a glance at him, informing him balefully, “Those never get washed and they’re disgusting. We should probably ask for an extra blanket.” She toed off her shoes, and then stopped, glaring at the bed with a sleep deprived grimness, shoulders slumping. “I don’t even have something to sleep in,” she muttered in defeat, hair falling into her face. “My fucking luggage got sent on to Sheridan on another flight.”

Working on a strong hunch and wanting to give her some space, Jacob asked, “Have you had dinner?” She sighed heavily. “ _No_. Of course not. That would involve my day going about 400% better than it has. I had a stale bagel and an apple some time this morning on the damn train, and that’s it.” Jacob nodded, having suspected something of the sort, and told her, “I’ll see if they have a restaurant or a room service menu and an extra blanket and give you a bit to… settle in.” She slumped down to sit on the bed, looking utterly drained. “Sure,” she mumbled, and he made sure to close the door quietly on his way out.

He went back down to the front desk to make some inquiries. It was late enough that the hotel’s restaurant was closing so he took the room service menu before another idea struck. Another ten minutes saw him headed back up to the room with two extra knit blankets and a plastic courtesy bag with the hotel’s name on it hanging off his wrist. Knocking on the door, he shifted things to be able to reach his keycard when Cady called out a tired, “Yeah, come in.”

She was sitting propped against the headboard, listlessly changing channels every few seconds, not pausing when she turned her attention from the tv to him as he tossed the blankets on the end of the bed and dropped the bag next to the tv. He held the menu out to her but she just looked at him for a moment before sighing and asking, “Do they just have steak and potatoes?” He nodded, sitting down on the other side of the bed from her by the room phone to order them both a late dinner. After he hung up, he went back over to the bag, digging through it and setting some complimentary toiletries on the dresser before pulling out some folded clothes.

“They may not be ideal,” Jacob started and Cady muted the Gilligan’s Island rerun she’d landed on to pay attention to him. “The hotel has a lost and found, though, and these all had tags on them so we could be sure they are at least clean.” He tossed a pink t-shirt on the bed and she reached out to unfold it, reading incredulously, “This mom has been promoted to grandma.”

“Could be worse.” Jacob shook out the other shirt that the night clerk had found—a 4XL with “Everything’s bigger in Texas” emblazoned across it with an arrow pointing at the bottom of the shirt. Cady just stared at it for a moment before a snicker escaped and she gave up, flopping back against the pillow and starting to laugh, covering her face. A relieved smile pulled at Jacob’s mouth when he tossed the offending shirt on the bed and pulled out the men’s athletic shorts that were the last thing in the bag. Cady peeked over her hand, saw the shirt again, and her laughter redoubled. It wasn’t even that funny, but the exhaustion and the utter ridiculousness of the whole situation compounded her merriment until she felt like she was edging into hysterics, not able to _stop_ laughing.

Her hilarity was contagious, Jacob’s smile growing into chuckles as she pounded a fist on the bed and wiped her watering eyes. Struggling to pull in a full breath, her inhale turned into a loud snort which truly set Jacob off to the point that he propped himself against the dresser when his knees weakened with the laughter. By the time they’d regained some semblance of control, the oddness of having to share a room with each other had somehow shifted. The laughing fit had managed to make a crack in her oppressively dour mood. In the wake of it, it was easier to meet each other’s eyes and the tense atmosphere that had made the room feel stale and claustrophobic had receded.

“I hate it so much,” Cady sighed despairingly, holding the giant t-shirt up against her. It came down to brush her knees and she balled it up and threw it back onto the foot of the bed before a realization struck. “You don’t have any luggage, either, do you.” He’d only come in with his briefcase, but the full implication of that hadn’t hit her until just then. “Nope. This was just supposed to be a day trip for my meeting.” She looked between the three options doing some quick considering before snatching the large t-shirt back up again.

“Guess that makes you grandma!” she told him, slipping off the bed to scurry to the bathroom to change. The overly large t-shirt would be a fairly modest nightshirt for her; she had a number of dresses and skirts that were shorter. And besides, the alternative would have her in the athletic shorts and him in just his… this was the better option. Once she was in the bathroom, she decided to take the opportunity to take a shower. She’d been travelling for almost a day and a half at that point and the general funk was definitely impacting her mood. A hot shower sounded _fantastic_ and if she was lucky, dinner would be waiting by the time she got out.

The shower did help immensely and when she opened the bathroom door the shower steam was replaced by the incredibly welcome smell of steak and butter. “Oh thank god,” she breathed, her hunger overwhelming the awkwardness she’d been feeling about coming out in the makeshift nightshirt and she headed straight for the small table in the corner where the meals had been laid out.

Maybe it was the comfort of cleaning off the grime of travel or maybe there was something to the millenia old idea of building fellowship by breaking bread together, but their meal was remarkably amiable. She asked about his meeting in Denver and they chatted about business easily while they made their way through the food. The natural flow of the conversation and occasional bit of humor carried them through stacking their empty plates back onto the tray and she decided to take the bull by the horns, as it were.

“Look,” she finally sighed, shifting to pull one of her knees up under her chin before remembering the nightshirt situation and tucking it under her in the chair instead. “This whole thing is ridiculous and it’s silly to try to pretend like it’s not. But it is what it is. We’re both adults, so we can be grownups about it and just,” she flung a hand over her shoulder at the bed, “get some sleep without turning it into even more of a Whole Big Thing. I promise I’ll keep my hands to myself,” she joked wryly, rolling her eyes. He huffed a short laugh but looked at her seriously, telling her, “I don’t want you to be uncomfortable.”

“Believe me, trying to sleep on the airport floor or one of those awful chairs would make me uncomfortable. This is nothing.”

“If you’re sure…” He still looked torn and she felt a rush of gratitude at his courtesy and a hint of frustration because how many times did she have to say it? Hell, she hadn’t had to work this hard to talk a guy into bed with her in— _That was the opposite of helpful, dammit_. She looked him in the eye, hoping he would see her sincerity and trust it. “I am. Honestly. And I appreciate the consideration. But I just want to get some sleep, and it just makes sense to share. I’m good.” He searched her face for another moment before nodding. “Alright. You want the bathroom first?” She looked over to confirm that the toiletries included toothbrushes and the like and agreed. “Go ahead. I’ll change and turn out the light when you’re done,” he said, tipping his head towards the bathroom and standing up to retrieve his mismatched sleepwear.

Mouth minty fresh, she had a tiny existential crisis while Jacob was in the bathroom. She hadn’t asked if he had a preference about sides of the bed but finally decided that if he cared, he would have said something when she’d defacto claimed the right side when they’d first come in. She spread the blankets across the bed, crawled in, and had just enough time to change her mind twice about lying on her side or her back before the bathroom door opened again and the light flicked off, leaving only the sickly orange of a parking lot light peeking through the curtain to light his way to the bed.

Neither of them said anything as he padded across the carpet, slid under the sheets, and settled on his back, each movement sounding loud in the stillness of the room. She’d been worried despite her assurances that the oddness of it all would keep her awake, but now that she was finally horizontal and had a pillow under her head she felt her exhaustion exponentially. “Night,” she muttered, genuinely relaxed and uncaring of any of the things she’d expected to fret about. She was asleep before she even heard his quiet reply.

\------

The gradual climb back to awareness was hampered not by her recent usual lethargy and lingering exhaustion but by a nearly overwhelming comfort that left her feeling almost drugged with the perfect ease of it. She was warm, just edging towards too warm but too perfectly relaxed to care. She wasn’t sure if it had been minutes or an hour that she’d been drifting on the cusp of consciousness, time stretching taffy-like and sweet before the bed shifted.

“Don’t you dare,” she managed in a bleary mumble. Forcing the words out pulled her farther out of the liminal space between slumber and true wakefulness and she resented the effort.

“Didn’t realize you were awake.” The voice was quiet, but the vibration of it hinted at the drowsy understanding that she must be lying partially on top of him. “...’M not. So stay still.” Mercifully, there was no more movement and the warmth and regular rhythm under her head lulled her back into that liquid, near dream space. His heartbeat, she realized as the cadence continued. Jacob’s heartbeat under her ear. She wasn’t quite dreaming but the sound felt amplified, all around her. She was aware without being truly awake and the odd sense of lucidity floated vaguely on the surface of her subconscious.

The realization that she was lying tangled with Jacob Nighthorse in a hotel bed the morning of Christmas Eve was clear, and even the knowledge that would be a cause for concern for any number of people including herself was present, but the concern itself was completely absent. All the logical reasons that being in bed with him was a terrible idea were recognizable. His history with her family, the possibility of a conflict of interest in her work, the age gap, wherever his larger ambitions would take him, the assumptions people would make about both of them… in this odd headspace she could look at them dispassionately and ended up responding to each one with an unexpectedly blithe, ‘ _And? So what?_ ’

The easy honesty with herself let her evaluate the rather damning crush on him that she had been doing her best to ignore for more than a year. She’d gotten adept at setting aside her reaction to his physicality, only really falling prey to it in the occasional daydream, but she could hardly blame herself for that. More difficult to push down had been her estimation for his keen mind, admiration for his drive to help his people, the pleasure at the mutual respect they shared, and the secret thrill at the sense of intimacy that sometimes felt thick around them when something happened to show his growing trust in her.

Examining the mess of feelings, she could admit that she was dangerously close to this being more than just a crush and that waking wrapped up in him could well tip that delicate balance for her. It felt like years since she’d been suffused with such a sense of contentment and well-being. _I want more of this_. The thought was direct and she blinked her eyes open, surfacing to proper wakefulness. She inhaled and relished the warm strength of his ribs against her as she tried to fill every little nook and cranny of herself with the air of this new morning before releasing it in a sudden explosive rush.

“Alright there?” Her ear pressed against his chest made his voice sound deeper or maybe it was just rough from sleep. She took another rib creaking deep breath before letting it whoosh out with a hum. Jacob made a questioning noise and it felt like he’d shifted to look down at her but she didn’t move her head to meet his eyes when she spoke.

“...Do I owe you an apology? I said I’d keep my hands to myself, and...” She trailed off, aiming for a joking tone, but the tangibility of how they were pressed together made her unsure if she’d managed it. Her arm was partially trapped under his shoulder and would probably erupt into tingles of nerves whenever she reclaimed it. One of his legs was between hers and twined behind her ankle, the wiry hair on his shin an unfamiliar texture against the sensitive sole of her foot. She was tucked into his side in a way that the arm she was tucked under was a comfortable weight along her back.

Neither one of them could have managed to get them into the position they woke up in by themselves. Their sleeping selves had worked together to end up so completely wrapped up in each other and that was simultaneously thrilling and terrifying. Her comment the night before had been meant to be taken as facetious, but it had been the misdirection of hiding the truth in plain sight, dressed up in a sardonic tone. She had been sure that she would keep her hands to herself not because there was no danger of it happening, but because she had far more experience dealing with her very real attraction to the man than she would ever admit.

The subconscious was a tricky thing though, and all of the practice ignoring the appeal of Jacob Nighthorse while she was awake and in control meant absolutely nothing compared to the reality of him within arm’s reach to her sleeping self. But that was just her; the fact that he’d ended up just as entangled in her was something altogether unexpected. It lit a dangerous little flame of _something_ in the back of her mind that she was only starting to be willing to examine and maybe entertain possibilities.

“Do I owe _you_ an apology?” he countered, tone odd. She could tell there was something in his tone but not what it meant. She reflected on how absent this sense of contentment and well-being usually was, how unfamiliar any kind of physical connection like this had been in her life for years now.

“How do you end up touch starved when you’re constantly surrounded by people?” she mused. She’d meant herself, but Jacob’s hand paused and only at its stillness did she realize it had been stroking across her shoulder blade down her spine and back, a slow, endless flow and ebb for who knows how long. “Didn’t realize how much I missed just being close to somebody,” she admitted quietly, pressing her cheek into the surprisingly soft cotton of his pink sleep shirt and wishing his hand hadn’t stilled. “No apology needed. It’s nice. This is really nice.” She wasn’t sure how much longer they could get away with ignoring how far from their normal their current position was. _Like the best, longest hug in the world_. Her cell phone started ringing. _Shit_.

It was plugged in on the side table by the room phone which meant that it was on the other side of the bed. She had a brief, sinking flash of intense frustration at the outside world intruding, shattering the fragile moment they had been in that had seemed to exist just apart from reality. Her breath caught for the space of an inhale as she weighed her options of how to respond. She could push things even further by leaning across and into Jacob to retrieve her phone, putting more than just her furtive crush on the line, or...

Cady sat up, scrubbing a hand over her face as nonchalantly as possible. The maneuver wasn’t particularly smooth, held up by the necessity of Jacob shifting his weight so she could reclaim her other arm and the sorting out of their legs, but the excuse of rubbing the sleep out of her eyes let her avoid having to look at anything. She pushed to her feet to shuffle around the bed to retrieve her phone, stifling a yawn and covering the warring uncertainty and regret. Wreathed in the buffer of her previous dreamlike state it had been easy to shrug off the myriad of reasons to keep something of a distance between them, but even if she could still muster that same sense of surety, she was only half of the equation. Her own attraction was more than simply physical, but even with how they’d woken up, she wasn’t willing to risk so much when she didn’t have any idea how he might feel.

Unplugging her phone, she saw that Henry was calling. Weighing the odds that it was really her father using his phone and her sharp desire not to talk to him, she stared at the screen for a moment before swiping her thumb to accept the call. Exquisitely aware of the fact that Jacob was lying in the mussed sheets of the bed behind her and likely watching her, she did her best not to slump in obvious relief when it was indeed her godfather. He was calling to check in with her after getting her message from the night before and while they were talking, Jacob retreated to the bathroom with his clothes.

They caught each other’s eyes for a moment while he was closing the door and she felt herself blush hard, mercifully after the door had shut. She hedged on the phone with Henry, telling him about the flight later that day and being put up in apparently the last hotel room in Denver, but not about sharing it or running into Jacob.

\-------

In the bathroom Jacob met his own eyes in the mirror briefly before looking away, not willing to examine his own thoughts too closely. He had a moment pulling on his dress pants where it felt terribly like preparing for a walk of shame and he resolutely shook off the idea. He had been scrupulously careful to keep to his side of the bed the previous night and still felt wildly off balance now. The ease of dinner the night before had lulled him into a confidence in his ability to remain circumspect that had proven utterly unfounded. Despite the novelty of getting to share a meal with Cady, he’d enjoyed the genial give and take of their conversation and had kept his eyes off of her bare legs without having to remind himself more than once.

That morning, her slight weight tucked into his side, her head on his chest, and their limbs entangled had made him think he was still dreaming for long, pleasant moments before he’d shifted and she’d spoken. Even with the dawning realization that it wasn’t a dream it had felt like they were wrapped up in a separate moment, cocooned away from reality, like a figment of his softest imaginings. Imaginings that he’d never thought of pursuing, but knowing the perfect fit of her against him and the feel of her breath in the hollow of his throat it was difficult not to crave more of it.

He splashed water on his face before pulling his button up back on, trying to jar himself into a more sensible mindset. He should just be grateful that the morning had been so peaceable. It could have easily devolved into something that would have left him wallowing in gut-churning guilt if she had been appalled with how they woke up. Indulging the mild bit of vanity he allowed himself, he spent a minute seeing to his hair before putting his silver bracelet back on, deciding to leave the tie off, settling his cuffs, and running a sharp eye over his reflection. The process of composing the image he presented to the world left him feeling more at ease and in control. Smoothing out some faint wrinkles in his shirt from the night draped over the back of a chair, he knocked on the bathroom door to check if it was alright to come out.

“Who is it?” Cady called, sounding terribly pleased with her own joke. He snorted before composing his face so that he only rewarded her with an amused raised eyebrow when he opened the door. She was also dressed in yesterday’s clothes and was off the phone. She was squashing a smile but the moment stretched as they both stood awkwardly, at a loss for what to do or say next. He kept his posture straight as he drew a complete blank in the face of how to get past this next hurdle of possibly the oddest not-quite morning after that he’d had to deal with, watching her hands twist around each other.

On a hesitating breath, Cady turned to look through her purse and said, “Do they have breakfast? I could definitely eat.” She continued in a slightly halting ramble before he could reply, “But then we have several hours before it makes sense to head back to the airport so we have time to kill, if you wanted to maybe both do something since we’re already here together…” Jacob kept his eyes from drifting back to the unmade bed through sheer force of will. He raised his chin slightly and hoped his face was blank when she picked up her purse abruptly and turned to him. It looked like she almost winced and light colour touched her cheeks when she backpedalled, “Unless of course you have things to do.”

He perhaps didn’t put his best effort into pushing down the rush of inconvenient fondness that swelled before replying with a small smile, “No, no plans. Why don’t we start with breakfast and then see how long we have after that.” Her pleased smile chipped away at his resolve and he found himself resting his hand at the small of her back for a moment as she passed him on the way to the elevator. _Hell_. This whole day was going to be even more disastrous for his ability to maintain any pretence of professional distance.

\-------

Over the middling breakfast offerings they both agreed that second day clothes were not ideal so the next stop would be shopping for something new. Heading to Denver Pavilions allowed them to split up to shop and still meet up fairly quickly. Cady glanced consideringly at the Victoria Secret before scolding herself and ducking into the H&M to pull together a quick outfit. She could admit to herself that she wanted to find something flattering that wasn’t business dress for a rather specific reason but there was no use getting carried away.

Still, she knew she blushed at Jacob’s simple, “You look very nice,” when they met back up at the directory sign where they’d split up. She was fairly certain that she’d said something similar in reply, but honestly the rather arresting reminder of the man’s penchant for too tight dark jeans when he was in casual clothes had been distracting. When their fresh outfits had been complete, Cady had endured some good natured teasing when she admitted that she could use a bit of extra time to finish some last minute Christmas shopping and then enjoyed Jacob’s company and commentary while they meandered from store to store until she was satisfied.

The mall was packed this close to Christmas which meant that she ended up behind Jacob on the escalator to the second level and eye level with the new jeans. That was not the kind of torturous she was used to from last minute shopping, but it certainly was some kind of agonizing. She wasn’t sure if she was grateful or frustrated when he pulled his long wool coat back on when they finally finished at the mall and went out into the biting December air in search of the nearest Starbucks. The shopping trip had ended up eating up enough time that once they were caffeinated they should get a ride to the airport. 

Over the past few hours Jacob had relaxed in a way that she hadn’t really gotten to see before. Whether it was being away from home or just having nothing on his schedule looming, he’d become freer with smiles and sly jokes that came at her sideways and left her cheeks aching slightly from the force and frequency of her laughter and own smiles.

She could still see plenty of the Jacob she knew from their business dealings in the man she’d spent most of the day with. In a casual setting, though, his intensity translated into a different kind of charisma that was as dangerous as it was delightful. All of the things that she’d spent more than a year noticing and appreciating in brief flashes were present in spades. An almost middle school urge to swoon kept ambushing her at inopportune times.

There were moments where she could almost swear that he was flirting and the possibility was a bit dazzling. She spent a good deal of the early afternoon trying to figure out if she was projecting or reading into things that weren’t there because of how they’d woken up. But if she _wasn’t_ , and he _was_ …

As they walked down the sidewalk towards the ubiquitous green and white logo Cady found herself hoping that the line was long so that the early afternoon wouldn’t end quite yet. The line was satisfyingly long, but just after they’d ordered both of their phones rang. Seeing the name of the airline on the screen, Cady’s stomach dropped into her boots. Feeling the shadow of the maxim, “Be careful what you wish for,” she answered.

A minute later when she dropped her hand from where she’d been pinching the bridge of her nose she saw a similarly dour look on Jacob’s face. He saw her look and shared a grimace with her before stepping away slightly to finish his call. She sent off a few quick texts before he came back and said drolly, “Well, it looks like we have some more time to kill.” She laughed once before muttering a weary curse. “First frozen flaps and then they completely overbook the flight and we get screwed again. Merry fucking Christmas, right?”

She’d actually been enjoying herself today but the trip from hell struck again. She closed her eyes bleakly. She may not have had any specific holiday plans, but the general “be cozy at home with some booze and a crackling fire” idea had sounded blissful after the past several days. She attempted a small smile at the warm hand that cupped her elbow but didn’t bother to open her eyes, not wanting to deal with the world for a moment more. Jacob’s voice was close by her side when he said, “First things first, I’ll see if we can still keep that room.” She hissed another curse, not having thought even that far ahead.

“Hey, some chairs opened up.” She did look around at that and followed him over to the pair of armchairs that were arranged in a little seating area by the front window. Sinking into the stiff cushions she looked off into the middle distance, feeling immeasurably tired all over again. Their orders were taking forever but that wasn’t the sneaky delight it would have been just a few minutes before. As she stared listlessly out the window, the first fat flakes of snow drifted into view. She tilted her head back to look up into the steel grey sky as more of the fluffy white danced its way down from the low clouds.

Despite everything, the idea of a white Christmas still held some of its childlike magic and she took a deep breath in, the smell of coffee and gingerbread thick around her. _It is what it is_. The thought and the echo of her godfather’s amusement over it coaxed a smile from her. She couldn’t change the situation, so she may as well grin and bear it. Easier said than done, but seeing Jacob’s look of serious concentration while he talked on phone and remembering how nice the day had been until the news of their flight was bolstering. She decided to do what she could to make the best of it. _A Merry Christmas despite everything, if she had anything to say about it_.

So resolved, she met Jacob’s sigh when he hung up with a determined smile. He looked a little surprised, but smiled back. “We still have the room.” Her smile brightened into something more real and she looked back out to the gathering snow. “Alright, good. Now we just have to figure out what else to do since we have the whole rest of the day.”

He shifted in his seat and she looked over at him because such an obvious tell was unlike him. “About that,” he said, sounding a bit cautious. “We had a late breakfast so how about a late lunch.” She shrugged and nodded agreeably, not quite hungry yet but willing to eat. “And then, since it’s Christmas Eve and you can’t be home, we could go see the holiday lights at the Denver Botanic Garden?”

They’d seen posters advertising “Blossoms of Light” while they’d been walking and it had looked pretty. She hadn’t paid it much attention because they had been scheduled to leave soon but offering to do something festive to celebrate the season was a nice gesture. “That sounds pretty great!” At her approval, Jacob had pulled out his phone again, presumably to get them tickets. _It sounds pretty romantic, really_. Cady bit her lip. _Making the best of a bad situation, right?_ Butterflies erupted into flight in the pit of her belly as an idea hit her. She glanced over at Jacob coyly when he finished his call and hung up.

“Do you realize how high you’re setting the bar for yourself with Christmas Eve as a first date?” Jacob looked up at her sharply. She managed to meet his eyes with a tiny grin for a moment before her daring was eclipsed by nerves and she looked down at her phone, biting her lip again. The moment stretched and the nerves were starting to tip over into mortification when he finally replied, “I think I’ll risk it.” When she looked back up at him he was looking down at his own phone but his mouth was quirked into a secret little smile. She felt a grin start to creep back across her face. “Okay then. ...good.” He did a better job of being subtle with sneaking looks at her than she did at him as they sat next to each other smiling at their phones until their orders were called but she hardly minded. _It was a date._

\-------

  
Lunch was a bit of a pleasant blur. The giddiness of this being _a date_ charged all of their interactions and as aware as Cady had been of him earlier in the day, everything was amplified. She still couldn’t quite believe that she’d actually said anything, much less that it hadn’t blown up in her face. Apparently she hadn’t been reading into things that weren’t there because not all that much changed after the rest of the day was officially acknowledged as a date.

They still chatted easily but now their eyes caught more often and she found herself blushing. He still opened doors for her but now his hand would rest gently on the small of her back as they walked like it had for that brief moment that morning. They still felt comfortable eating together but now their feet fitting together like puzzle pieces as they slid into their seats was deliberate. Her face was still sore from how much she was smiling but now she was left breathless for a moment when he reached out to brush a wayward strand of hair back behind her ear.

The sun set early in December and twilight was already falling by the time they left the restaurant. It had been a late lunch to begin with but they’d lingered and it was edging on towards 5:00 when their rideshare arrived to take them to the Garden. When they got to the front doors, there was a notice on the poster for the holiday lights exhibit saying, “December is SOLD OUT, however tickets are available in January. Please purchase tickets in advance.” Cady looked pointedly at Jacob who pursed his lips slightly and kept walking towards the doors. His attempt at innocence broke into a smug smile when she looped her arm through his and drew out saying his name expectantly.

“I may have pulled some strings to get us tickets last minute,” he conceded and opened the door for her again. Reclaiming her grip on his arm once he joined her inside, she realized with another giddy rush that he must have done so before they’d even agreed this was a date. He’d gone out of his way to set up something special for her when his expectation could only have been to make her Christmas Eve better than it otherwise would have been. Not that she thought that he had other expectations now, but… She drank in his strong profile from close against his side as he picked up their tickets. Well. She didn’t think he’d be upset if she was interested in setting some new expectations.

Cady passed on more coffee in favour of getting hot cocoa at the Garden’s cafe in deference to the hour. They set out from the warmth of the cafe and she wrapped her hands around the paper cup to keep them warm, her arm still tucked though his. The air was still bitingly cold, and there was an almost eerie stillness without a breath of a breeze. She finished the hot drink faster than she expected to and her hands felt chilled as soon as she dropped the empty cup into a trashcan. They meanded slowly along the path, between tree trunks corseted with strings of pale blue lights, alongside the snow covered span of ground covered in the stakes of lights dancing and waving in abstract patterns, under the branches dripping with multi-coloured fairy lights.

They paused looking at the explosion of flame coloured, spearlike glass sculpture and Cady rubbed her hands together and tucked them under her arms when they started walking again. Tugging one glove off with his teeth, Jacob reached over and guided them to the side of the path when he felt how cold her hands were. “Where are your gloves?” he asked, tucking his own away in a pocket to try to rub some warmth back into her hands. Her fingers were red and felt like icicles. He felt a rush of frustration that he hadn’t noticed her lack of gloves earlier.

“In my checked luggage,” she said ruefully. He frowned at how cold her hands still felt and tugged her closer, saying, “C’mere,” before unbuttoning his coat and tucking her hands inside. The sudden heat made her hands tingle and she groaned, “Oh my god, you’re a walking space heater.” He snorted. It was certainly one of the odder compliments that he’d gotten, but it was clear from how she said it that it was a good thing in her estimation.

She grinned at him impishly and slipped her hands farther into his coat, around his sides to his back. She stepped in so that she shielded him from the cold air in the open gap of his coat putting them front to front, chest to chest, face to face. _Kissing distance_ came the thought, unbidden. His eyes flicked down to her lips for a moment. He wasn’t alone in thinking it because she was looking down at his mouth when he looked back up to her eyes. Standing off to the side of the path just past some of the large globes of string lights the holiday music was a bit distant and the other people were all in brighter parts of the garden. He tilted his head in. Her nose was cold as it brushed his cheek in the breathless heartbeat of hesitation before she leaned in and met his kiss.

He couldn’t help but take a deep breath as their lips met, one hand coming up to cradle the base of her neck and tangle in the fall of her hair, the other coming around her waist, pulling her against him. Her weight settled gently into him and she sighed into the kiss, lingering. Opening his eyes as their mouths parted he could only see the glow of the ice white lights fading to purple reflecting on her cheek when her face stayed too close to his own to focus on. She whispered his name against his cheek and he pressed forward to kiss her again, unwilling to let the moment end.

She made a quiet, needy sound and he felt her fingers clutch at his back though his sweater when her lips parted and he took the invitation to deepen the kiss. The hand at the nape of her neck moved to cup her cheek and grazed her ear. He went to pull back slightly from the kiss but she chased his lips for another series of soft, brief kisses. Her ears were also little blocks of ice but it was impossible to resist the intoxicating way her mouth felt against his. When she finally relented and leaned back enough to meet his eyes he just stared at her, caught by her loveliness and the happiness shining on her face, completely forgetting why he had started to pull back in the first place.

She tightened her embrace for a moment and he felt the movement where he still cupped the side of her face when she said, “You wanna head back to the hotel? This is gorgeous but I’m freezing.” She was still close enough that her warm breath ghosted over his mouth. “Hm?” It took him another moment to process what she’d asked and he blinked at her before his brain clicked into gear and he shook himself back into motion. “Sure, whatever you’d like.” He ran his hands down her arms until she reluctantly stepped away so that they could start to walk back towards the exit.

Stopping them for another moment, he dug his gloves out of his pockets and buttoned his coat back up. He passed her the right one and pulled on the left. After giving him an odd look she pulled on her half of the pair and then melted into his side when he laced their ungloved fingers together and tucked them both deep into his coat pocket. The snow had stopped falling but the ground was blanketed white and tiny crystals picked up the myriad colours of the thousands of lights around them as they walked through a covered walkway. She tilted her head in towards his and whispered, “Best first date ever,” and felt him smile against her temple where he’d turned his head to press a kiss. _A Merry Christmas, indeed._


End file.
